Monday, February 23, 2015

Revolutionary Change in Pakistan

Is Pakistan on the cusp of revolutionary change?

If the population of a state is satisfied with its ruling government and there seem to be no strong indicators of social unrest, it is said to be politically stable. In any self-ruled state, the population is satisfied if the promises the party (that forms the government) makes before being elected are fulfilled and the expectations of the people met. Is the Pakistani population satisfied with its government?
Pakistan, being a democratic state follows a constitution and has an elected government.  Can it then be said that there is political legitimacy in the country? Popular consent is not exercised because the elections are mostly not free and fair and constitutional rules are not implemented in most cases (in fact most people are completely unaware of rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and so it does not get to that point where they can fight for them). There exist plural systems of governance and law-enforcement institutions - shariah, jirgah etc can be taken as examples - and therefore due to a lack of cohesion no single government can gain legitimacy.
Is there a balance between the value expectations of the populace and value capability of the government? The educated classes are fighting for a more efficient system while the poor are fighting for the fulfillment of basic necessities (including food and shelter). The least a nation’s people expect is the provision of basic necessities. Power and fuel are essential for any nation to survive and prosper. Yet Pakistan faces severe power, fuel and water shortage which brings the competency of the government into question.  

In conclusion, it can be said that there is (nearly) no political stability or political legitimacy. People rise up in revolt time and time again and every 7 or so years, in a state of emergency, martial law is declared. There is a huge gap between what people expect to get and what they are actually getting (which in Heywood’s words shows there is relative deprivation in the country). The general populace is generally displeased with every government that comes into power despite that selection is based on elections. Can it then be said that Pakistan is on the cusp of revolutionary change? 

1 comment:

Ahmed Shoaib Atta said...

In Pakistan, almost its impossible to create the revolution here. We just think that if we find the president or a prime minsiter a good and honest man, the country will rise up. The country will rise in just a situation in which the people and the government both want. The people expect something and happened something, obviously you are saying right. If the elections happen fair and free than also peple of Pakistan will say that that elections were not right, something bad happened in it. Every person here wants revolution but he never do the works of revolution than how the revolution can be created in Pakistan.